Our objective was to isolate a dehydrogenase from a cell-free extract of T. Furgasoni. The partially purified enzyme demonstrated a substrate specificity for secondary alcohols, therefore the kinetics with both steroidal and nonsteroidal alcohols were studied. Characterization of the secondary alcohol dehydrogenase included pH optimum, molecular weight, effect of inhibitors, and heat. A growth-inhibition study was also done to investigate whether the in vivo reduction of the ketone at the C-3 of the steroid was a detoxication mechanism.